In the midst of dealing with Novopay glitches, Education Ministry staff have themselves not been paid today.

The Education Ministry has begun putting delayed pay into staff accounts this morning, a spokeswoman said. Staff were due to be paid overnight on Tuesday, but this did not happen because an incorrect date was entered on the payroll at the ministry.

''We apologise to staff for the delay and can confirm a number of pays have started to go into staff banks accounts this morning.''

A lower North Island teacher, who did not want to be named, said that after dealing with his Novopay issues, the family had been dealt another blow after his wife, who worked for the Ministry of Education, was not paid today.

"Now with my wife not being paid as well, it's sort of adding insult to injury really," he said.

His wife was told when she arrived at work that there was a server problem which meant that pay for the whole ministry had not gone through over night. They hoped to be paid tomorrow.

Ministry staff were usually paid on alternative weeks to teaching staff, he said.

"In the face of what's currently happening, it's all that the ministry needs is another pay glitch somewhere," the teacher said.

"It will no doubt be an embarrassment for them."

A Public Service Association spokeswoman confirmed the union had heard there was a payroll issue within the ministry, but it was due to be fixed by tomorrow.